How to Travel in Chicago

A long day of running. Was warm again but thankfully not as warm as yesterday. Thunderstorms were forecast but we just hand the thunder and no rain. I could have done with some rain. Just needed to cool down. Had two cold showers when I came in for a drink just to try and stop sweating, they seem to be helping. We are in greenfield tonight outside of Indianapolis in the state of Indiana. Everyone has run with me today at some point. It took a long time for my legs to free up this morning and allow me to get into my stride. Once moving I felt ok but there was a dull ache all day through my left quad. Thank you for the donations overnight and throughout the day. We have just moved over £1000. It was amazing to have John Bishop share my page last night. It might not mean much to him, one quick share, but it makes a massive difference to me so thank you John. Tomorrow we head towards Chicago. We will be at the start of Route 66! Might be a little late starting tomorrow as the RV lost a wing mirror today when we hit another car! This needs to be fixed before we set off. I love that my little brother was on the radio this morning talking about the run! I’ll be on BFBS Radio tomorrow morning before we depart. All in all a good day. Hard running and hot running but the miles did tick by over the 11 hours.

How to Travel in Chicago Photo Gallery




Double figures, quite pleasing to get to double figures. Was a painful day. When I’m on the bike it’s not my legs that’s the problem but my ass! It’s the time spent in the saddle. This morning for the first two hours I averaged 22.5mph which is pretty good. This was while the sun was still coming up and the heat of the day was still weak. The cycling through Indiana was not hard, like the mountains earlier in the challenge. It’s just long straight and flat, very very flat. The roads stretch until they haze with the heat. I imagine if it was just for a day it would seem quite pleasant. Corn fields as far as the eye can see. The towns are ones like Bruce Springsteen would sing about. All of them with a sign saying “go panthers” or “go vikings” whichever their high school team might be. We stopped to rest in Frankfort today. A beautiful town, like all of them with a big water tower as you enter with the name of the town on the side.

I did a radio interview this morning which was quite fun. I never know what to say when people ask me, why?

Today we are in Chicago and once again thanks to Sion and Shelley we are staying in a hotel. A bed, the things we take for granted. Tomorrow we start on Route 66. It’s going to be 28 degrees tomorrow. At least I feel like we are moving west now and towards LA. This picture has made me laugh a lot. I’m feeling a lot of support from home. Thank you. Each day we chat about how many people have seen the post and the comments people have made. Let’s hope tomorrow is a good day. #epic #beinspired #run #cycle

Started the proper Route 66 this morning, although if I’m honest it was a bit of anti climax. Chicago is a brilliant vibrant city, with great people and fantastic buildings. The only sign post that lets you know you’re on Route 66 is the one in the picture. The real Route 66 and the historic road doesn’t really start Gardner. We stopped in Gardner for something to eat. The running out of Chicago was pretty good, good through all the different boroughs and through Chinatown. Once in the historic road this afternoon you seem to go back in time. The towns have old fuel pumps and really make an effort to get the old fashioned feel of Route 66. Was pushing a good pace this morning running 8 minute miles, this slowed to 10 minute miles later this afternoon and I was still running as the sun went down. Today I got some very special donations. I don’t normally do shout outs but I wanted to say a huge thank you to Matthew, Tom and Lucy. They donated their pocket money. It nearly broke me more than the run to know you did that. We are camped up now. I can already hear the crickets!

150 miles on the bike tomorrow. Into a head wind.

Almost a stone down in weight now. The majority of that was sweated out in the humid heat of Chicago this morning. My aim I now think is to do this, inspire the uninspired. Tonight I’ll leave you with a quote. “Train hard under the dark lights, to shine under the bright lights”.

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